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Indian farming sector has seen increase in the subsidyand import of fertilisers in the last three years.
In a reply in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers, said the total amount of subsidy disbursed on fertilisers increased to ₹1.31 lakh crore in 2020-21 against ₹83,467 crore in 2019-20. It was at ₹73,435 crore in 2018-19.
Import of urea increased to 98.28 lakh tonnes (lt) in 2020-21 from 91.23 lt in 2019-20 and 74.81 lt in 2018-19.
The import of NPK increased to 13.90 lt in 2020-21 against 7.46 lt in 2019-20 and 5.46 lt in 2018-19.
During 2020-21, the import of MOP and DAP increased to 42.27 lt (36.70 lt in 2019-20), and 48.82 lt (48.70 lt), respectively.
Use of bio-fertilisers
To a separate query on the use of bio-fertilisers and pesticides, Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, said bio-fertilisers are promoted through integrated nutrient management and are made integral part of package of practices developed by ICAR and state agriculture universities.
The consumption of chemical pesticides increased from 59,699 tonnes in 2018-19 to 61,701 tonnes in 2019-20, and to 62,192 tonnes in 2020-21.
To a query on the complaints of presence of harmful chemicals in food items, Tomar said the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) has fixed the Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) for various pesticides, antibiotics, etc in food commodities under Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Regulations 2011, which are reviewed from time to time.
Further, samples of vegetables, fruits and other crops are collected from the retail outlets, markets, farm gate, etc under a central sector scheme — ‘Monitoring of Pesticide Residues at National Level’ — and analysed for pesticide residues.
From the analysis of a total of 1,72,437 samples of various food commodities during April 2014 to March 2021, residues were found exceeding above MRLs in 4,680 (2.7 per cent) samples. Reports of such instances were shared with concerned State governments to take appropriate legal and corrective actions as per the provisions of the Insecticides Act 1968, he said.
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